kestrel.ca
Underboss
1672 Posts
    
 | | 12/02/2005 6:53 PM |
| [As originally posted by Zenako; updated by Kestrel.ca]
Trading 101
1. Before you leap in, lurk and look a while. This will give you a little chance to pick up the flavor and trends of trading (some of which I will detail below).
2. Trading takes two. This is simple, but both partners need to be happy with the trade or else it shouldn't happen. Never feel pressured into making a trade you don't like. It is easy to fear that if you don't jump on that trade offer you recieve, that you might not get another, but with close to 2000 members here, you will get offers.
3. Use good email/posting manners and reply in a timely manner. If someone responds to your offer, get back to them to let them know what you think, either way (yah its a good trade, or nope don't think I am interested). If you know you will be out of touch for a while, let anyone you are negotiating with know that, or else wrap everything up before you go.
4. Fair Trades. A subject of much discussion, but some general guidelines fall into a couple of areas. You can compare the prices of the various minis at retail stores (a tracking list is periodically posted in the REFERENCE Forum here). Add up the nominal totals of the two sides of the trade, if they are at all close, then it is probably a fair deal, but if the values are a factor of 2 or more off, then one side is advantaged in that trade. The other common method is to deal in scarity, in other words, rares, commons and uncommons and use some ratio for making trade offers. Ratios are often found like this, 1 rare for 3-5 uncommons, or 1 rare for 6-10 common figures. Or just the simple like for like, ie a rare for a rare. It is possible to put together "fair" trades using any system.
5. Once you have agreed to a trade, make sure both parties are in full agreement and exchange confirming emails. Don't go posting addresses on the forums, it is not good practice. Email your trading partner when you have shipped and when you receive their package. Use the Trading Tracker Utility to manage your trades and record your trading history. This is the way to build up a trading repution here. Many traders have reference threads. Leaving feedback on a reference thread allows you to leave more detailed feedback than allowed by the Trading Utility.
6. There are generally three broad types of minis; Humans, Humanoids and Monsters. There are three broad classes of minis gatherers: Collectors, RPGer's and Skirmishers. While most people would like to own one of each, Collectors "MUST" have at least one of each, but may not need more than one of any. RPGers will often be looking to get large numbers of Humanoids and some human sculpts as well. Skirmishers will be looking to build effective Warbands and their needs will be a little across the board, they may want mulitples, but the limits on the game preclude them from being able to effectively use more than a few of any type of mini.
7. So far we have eight miniature sets released; Harbinger (Starter sets and Boosters; 80 total scuplts), DragonEye (60 total sculpts), ArchFiends (60 total sculpts), Giants of Legend (72 totals sculpts), Aberrations (Start sets and Boosters; 60 total sculpts), Deathknell (60 total sculpts), Angelfire (60 total sculpts) and Underdark (60 total sculpts). You can find lots of details on the minis in the Gallery listed in the links on the top of this page. The older sets (especially Harbinger and Archfiends) are out of production and have become scarcer and values have gone up in the past few months.
8. Fill in the H/W listing feature</B> here at the site. It helps when you are trying to make trades. Link to your listing in your SIG file, and that will make it easier for potential trade partners to check it out.
9. Repaints and Promo figures are sometimes mentioned. So far, all of these are the same miniatures as are found in the normal sets. The differences lie either in the paint scheme (for the Repaints, which are awarded as prizes at tournements) or in the information contained on the bottom of the molded base. From a RPG standpoint, the promos look identical to the normal figure, while the Repaints look different. These figures are much scarcer than the normal minature of that type. Trade values for these vary a bit, but some of them might go one for one with low valued rare minis (ie ones that no one really wants), or a number of uncommon/common minis. On EBAY these minis often go for between $3 and $8 bucks apiece.
10. Shipping Protocol. New or first time traders are often asked to ship their end of the trade first when dealing with a trader with an established reputation on these boards. After a few successful trades the "new trader" stigma goes away. [Actual values vary depending on the trader, and may be as low as 5-10 trades. Some big scams recently have made many traders particularly cautious.] Check a trader's references (the green shield next to the h/w list shield in every post's header) and their transactions in the Trading Utility. Most traders also list some stats in their sig files for postings as well.
11. Packaging. Based on extensive experience by traders on the boards it is STRONGLY encouraged that all trades be shipped in boxes as opposed to bubble envelopes. Minis get squished and sometimes damaged or lost from envelopes. The US Post Office offer a service called Delivery Confirmation (or DC for short) that many traders request their partners use. This system does not insure the package, merely track its progress. It shows the partner that a package was mailed on a specific date, and when it was delivered to the address. It is a useful cover your butt system (it shows you mailed the package and it shows it was delivered to the address you were given.) The reason for some of these precauions is to help protect all traders from unscruplous persons who would try to rip someone off. This practice helps deter (but does not eliminate) scammers.
12. Trading internationally. Please allow extra time for international trades. Two weeks is usually average for shipping times, but less than a week and more than a month are not uncommon. When trading internationally, be sure to fill out the appropriate customs paperwork. In the USA this usually involves a green sticker. In Canada, it's usually a white sticker.
13. Trading and dickering is fun, and you have thousands of kindred spirits here.
[Zenako's opinion on relative values of the first four sets, removed from the above list as it does not quite fit as well, but still may be useful...]
Harbinger contained a great number of iconic foes (Orcs, Kobolds, Lizardmen, etc) that have broad appeal. DragonEye is overall the least popular set so far. It was the first set to include Dragons and the Large Red Dragon is a sought after figure to this day. There are a large number of niche market minis in this release, for which getting one, maybe two might make sense, but would be silly to get more of (Example is the Drunken Master Mini). Archfiends is only a few months old, but is holding up pretty well. Many of the minis in this set have good use, with only a few falling into the how would I ever use more than a handful of these. Giants of Legend is the latest release and the first to include the Huge minis. The Huge minis have two rarities, Rare and Uncomon. When opening a booster box, you will at the end of the day, end up with about the same number of Rare HUGE Red Dragons as you will end up with Rare (normal size) Lord Soths. The fact that they are BIG is worth a trading premium, how much is still be sorted out by the trading and retail markets.
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Completed Trades/Transactions: 91 || Pending Trades: 0 || Bad Trades: 3 (Chaotic Good x2, MackeyV) | |
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